Air Date: Week of June 25, 1999

Listeners respond to recent stories ranging from the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline to John Elkington's book on an emerging environmental ethic in multinational corporations to our depiction of George Washington, the farmer.

Transcript

CURWOOD: Peter Behr, who listens to Living on Earth on Vermont Public Radio, felt our story on the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline seemed bent on creating an impression of impending disaster and failed to note that pipelines are safer than other methods of transportation. He writes, "Think of pollution and vulnerability to accidents and spills, which rail and truck transport have, compared to pipelines. There is no valid alternative mode of transport."

Lail Easton, who hears us on KOPB in Portland, Oregon, was skeptical of the assessment made by John Elkington. Mr. Elkington's book, Cannibals With Forks, claims to see an emerging environmental ethic in multinational corporations, including Nike and Shell Oil. But Ms. Easton is not convinced.

EASTON: I think that what these corporations have done in response to their problems and their bad publicity is to hire PR firms and have some token committees and things that make it look like they might be doing something. But I haven't seen any results.

CURWOOD: And finally, our story on George Washington's sustainable farming practices raised the eyebrows of Mark McNamara, a listener to KWMU in St. Louis. Mr. McNamara pointed out that we neglected to mention one of the first President's bigger crops: hemp. While he can understand why Mt. Vernon would avoid the topic, Mr. McNamara writes, "For a radio show that reports on environmental issues to ignore Washington's use of such an environmentally-friendly crop begs the question of how much research went into the story, and how much of it was a Mt. Vernon press release."

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